Changing color of money
Americans are kind of funny about their money. They tend to not accept change well. Both attempts in recent history to introduce the $1 coin has flopped with the coins thought as a collectors item rather than currency. Let’s not even mention the $2 bill.
But when those large-headed Ben Franklins first hit the streets some six years ago, Americans stuffed them into their wallets without much fuss.
Sure Ben’s portrait was more striking than on the old, faded bill and he was slightly off center, but the $100 bill evaporated on purchases just as easily as the old.
The U.S. Treasury began the money makeovers to thwart high-tech counterfeiters.
Starting with Ben’s bill and working down to Lincoln’s $5, the treasury added a watermark visible when the bill is held to a light, a colored security thread that pops up under ultraviolet light and color-shifting ink that changes from green to black when viewed at different angles.
These changes were acceptable to Americans because other than the change in hat size, the new money didn’t differ much from the old money.
Unfortunately, counterfeiters also have access to improving technology. In order to stay one step ahead, Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing announced the $20 bill will undergo a new round of changes that include adding color to the neutral regions surrounding Andrew Jackson’s portrait. This is a much larger visual change than big heads.
Still the new $20s will catch on simply because Americans will have to use them.
There was a time not that long ago when newspapers were black and white and those newspapers that were in the lead of producing full-color photographs seemed a bit off. Now the eye is jarred if an edition lacks color.
Still someone will have to coin a new slang term.
Greenbacks will become as outdated as the joke that asks what’s black and white and read all over.